Two men who attempted to smuggle an improvised explosive device (IED) onto an Etihad plane went on to hatch a separate plan to build a hydrogen sulphide bomb, police say.
Key points:
- Police allege they have disrupted two separate terror plots being masterminded by the same group
- The first was to detonate an IED, to allegedly be planted on the brother of one of the accused, on an Etihad flight from Sydney on July 15
- Their second alleged blueprint involved releasing a toxic “rotten egg gas” bomb
Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan said Khaled Khayat and Mahmoud Khayat, charged on Thursday night with terror offences, had been planning “one of the most sophisticated terror plots attempted on Australian soil”.
Police will allege the IED had been built under instructions from a senior Islamic State (IS) controller in Syria and was to be planted in the luggage of a brother of one of the accused on the Etihad flight out of Sydney on July 15. Police said the brother was not aware of the plan.
Police described the IED as a “high-end military-grade explosive”. However, that attempt was aborted, and a second plan was then hatched to create a “chemical dispersion device”.
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